ENG 121: Early Modern English: Word and Grammar Changes

October 6, 1997

								 Oct 6, 1997
 
ENG 121: Early Modern English: Word and grammar Changes (Barber, 175-190)
 
Some preliminaries:
	1. Quiz # 4 on Friday.

	2. You need to start thinking about the midterm exam.  Don't wait for 
		the last week.
 
 
  I. In education in England, the prominent work was still done in Latin through 
	the EMoE period, up to 1700.
 
 
 II. English vs. Latin: 
 
	A. Religion reformation movement reinforced the growing strength of 
		English.  Protestant reformation emphasis on basic literacy in 
		the local language supported English literacy.  The use of 
		English in protestant church services reinforced the status of 
		English as well. 

	B. Also, the rise of modern nation-state supported English--it led to 
		rise of national literature movement. 

	C. Finally, the average person in many crafts and professions read and 
		wrote practical information in English. 

	D. The period of EMoE also was a time of much borrowing from Latin and 
		greek as the renaissance swept England; this tendency continued 
		past 1700.
 
 
III. Loan-Words from Latin
 
	Major period of loans from Latin: 1580-1660.
 
	A. The transition from writing in latin to writing in English led many 
		writers to use Latin terms where there were no suitable English 
		written terms.  178-179 offers a small indication of the words 
		taken from Latin during this time.
 
	B. In some cases we can't know for sure if a word came from Latin or 
		came from French but was a Latin-origin word.
 
 
IV. Inkhorn Terms
 
	New words were invented to say new things in English, EMoE was a time of 
		extensive word creation, before major dictionaries, widespread 
		printing, and grammar standards created a more conservative 
		influence on the language.  Some of these words disappeared 
		quickly, but some were accepted and are now common words 
		(defunct, reciprocal, strenuous).
 
 
 V. The Remodelling of Words

	Latin also influenced how words were spoken and written.  So "doutte" 
		became "doubt"; "aventure" became "adventure".
 
 
VI. Loan-words from other Languages
 
	A. French continued to supply loan-words in to the EMoE period: 
		bayonet, feint, anatomy, muscle, entrance invite. 
 
	B. Italian and Spanish added words:
		fuse, squadron, artichoke, opera, anchovy, cargo, sherry.
 
	C. The Dutch also contributed: 
		deck, skipper, dock, yacht, cruise, easel, booze.
 
 
VII. Word-formation
 
	Words were also introduced through the common means of affixation, 
		compounding, and conversion.
 
	A. Affixation created: briskness, latticed, briny, unclasp.

	B. Compounding created: waterdock, freshman.
 
	C. Conversion created: to bayonet, to gossip, an invite, a laugh.
 
 
VIII. Early Modern English Grammar
 
	A. Emergence of third person singular "s" on verbs.
 
	B. The growing dominance of the "s" plural marker.
 
	C. The definite article and demonstrative became modern.
 
	D. Adjectives took on invariant forms.
 
	E. "You" became the standard second person form.
 
	F. Relative pronouns began to follow modern uses (that, who, which).
 
	G. Auxiliaries came into common use.
 
	H. The emergence of dummy "do" became common; reached present-day usage 
		by 1700.